Released in 2018, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was looked upon, at first, like a novelty in Sony’s comic book franchise. That is until it actually came out, everyone absolutely loved it, and the film went on to not only win an Oscar for Best Animated Feature, but universal calls for a sequel. We’ve known all along that one was coming, and now we know who will be taking the helm.
Variety reports Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson will co-direct Into the Spider-Verse 2, completely replacing the previous award-winning team. That’s a bit of a surprise, but it’s good to see them continue to bring in people of color to tell Miles Morales’ story.
Phil Lord and Chris Miller are back to write the screenplay, however, so there’s some continuity there.
Chances are the name that sticks out to you here is Kemp Powers, who has been all over the place this awards season. Not only was he one of the writers behind Pixar’s Oscar-nominated Soul, but he also wrote Regina King’s acclaimed One Night in Miami based on his own stageplay. Dos Sandos and Thompson are both making their feature debuts, although they have previous credits on Teen Titans, The Legend of Korra, and more. Thompson also served as production designer on the previous Spider-Verse movie.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2 opens October 7th 2022.
“The crew behind the ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ set such a ridiculously high bar, and we’re humbled to take on the challenge of charting the next chapter in the story of Miles Morales,” the new directors said.
“We are so lucky to have Joaquim, Justin and Kemp on the ‘Spider-Verse’ team,” Lord and Miller added. “We are huge fans of Joaquim’s work — he makes his characters so heartfelt and unique, and he can tell an emotional story with an action sequence the way a musical does through a song. Justin is a maverick filmmaker who relentlessly pursues visual innovation and surprise but always in support of the emotional storytelling. Kemp’s work is incisive and ambitious and funny — with a writer’s wisdom and a director’s heart — he just knows what matters in every scene. All three of them elevate every project they take on, and they are certainly raising our game. We honestly just like them and want to be their friends and we’re hoping working on this movie together for the next few years will totally make that happen.”
